Metz Becomes First Nearpod Certified School in the Region
January 15, 2020 - Metz Middle School has received the designation of a Nearpod Certified School, highlighting its successful implementation of the interactive learning platform. Metz is the second school in the state to earn this title, and the first in Northern Virginia.
All Manassas City Public Schools incorporate Nearpod into students’ lessons. The platform, which has a high emphasis on student engagement, allows teachers to easily create interactive presentations for lessons, quizzes and more.
Metz Middle School Principal David Rupert said the school’s educators are fortunate to have the benefit of Nearpod’s unique presentation format.
“With the ability to embed formative assessment and provide integrated content, Nearpod presentations improve student engagement and empower students to learn more effectively,” he said.
To receive a schoolwide certification, three or more of a school’s teachers must be certified themselves. More than a dozen Metz teachers are Nearpod Certified Educators, representing more than 25% of the school.
Other evaluation criteria that led to Metz’s recognition, was the school’s high usage and frequency of Nearpod sessions.
Seventh grade geography teacher Michelle Daley is a Nearpod Certified Educator. She uses Nearpod in her classroom in a variety of ways, but all with the same goal: keeping students engaged. Whether she’s leading a lesson on the board and students are following along on their own devices, or she provides the class a link to go through a presentation at their own pace, Daley said Nearpod allows them to “be more independent as a student, and take on more responsibility as a learner.”
With all the students having access to the lesson on their own devices, Daley said it is easier for them to follow along with her and participate in class discussions, discussion posts and content-related games.
“There are many activities that students can participate in to reinforce the content that has been learned,” she said. “Activities range from fill-in-the-blank to ‘Time to Climb,’ which is a game where students answer questions with a time limit to compete with classmates.”
Metz received a banner signifying their accomplishment. The banner can be seen by the front entrance.
Seventh grade geography teacher and Nearpod Certified Educator Michelle Daley teaches a lesson on Civil Rights using Nearpod.